Box Score
Waltham, Mass. – A resurgent second half in the opening
round of the NCAA Division II East Region by the No. 3 Bentley
University Falcons led to a 68-57 victory over the LIU Post
women’s basketball team Friday night at the Dana Center.
Bentley opened up scoring in the first half with a Lauren Battista
layup off the opening tip, but the Pioneers came right back when
senior forward Samantha Kopp (Franklinville, N.Y.) made a jumper
just above the foul line off a feed from Nicolette Marciniak
(Brooklyn, N.Y.). Back-to-back layups by Battista gave the Falcons
an early two bucket lead, but Chelsea Williams (Copiague, N.Y.)
countered with a layup of her own followed by a three-point play by
Kopp cutting the lead to one. The Pioneers saw their first
lead of the game when Ariana Ijaduola (Teaneck, N.J.) sunk a jumper
in transition bringing the score to 9-8.
Bentley’s largest lead of the half at five points came
following that Ijaduola jumper when they strung together two
three-point shots from Courtney Finn and Jane White to bring the
score to 14-9 with 12:45 left to play in the half. The
Pioneers’ defense came on in full force, holding the Falcons
scoreless over the next five minutes as they went on a 9-0 run to
bring the score to 18-14. Another Falcon three point shot cut
the lead to one, but Jalicia Connell (Westbury, N.Y.) fired back
with a trey of her own to bring the advantage back to four points
in favor of the Pioneers.
The fourth tied score of the game came at 26-all at the 1:45 mark
when Kopp came off a screen, took a feed from Marciniak, and
drilled a shot from downtown. Not to be outdone, the
Falcons’ Kelsey Roberson drained a shot from downtown of her
own just 16 seconds later. With 30 seconds left, Ashley
Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.) joined the party, nailing a
three-pointer to tie it up at 29-29., but as the clock ran out,
Battista made a turnaround jump shot in the paint to give Bentley
the two-point edge as the teams headed to the locker room for the
intermission.
A rejuvenated Bentley flew out of the gates, going on a 10-4 tear
for an eight point advantage at 41-33 over the opening four minutes
of second half play. The teams exchanged buckets over the
next few minutes before an Alexis Peters (Dorchester, Mass.) layup
cut the lead to two at 45-43. Battista kicked the ball out to
Finn for her first three of the half to give Bentley its largest
lead at 54-45, and then followed with a jumper to grab an 11-point
advantage with 7:58 remaining. Play continued back-and-forth
with Bentley mostly retaining the 11-point advantage until Williams
knocked down a trey with 1:29 to go to cut the lead to eight at
65-57. Beating the shot clock with 1.1 ticks left, Battista
drained a three to cap off her 27-point performance leading the
Falcons to a 68-57 victory.
Kopp led the Pioneers with 19 points and eight rebounds, while
Williams chipped in nine points.
The Pioneers shot 43% (24-56) from the field including 46% (6-13)
from downtown. Bentley shot 65% in the second half, 53%
(28-53) overall including 44% (8-18) from beyond the arc. The
Pioneers held the slight edge on the boards, bringing down 33 to
the Falcons 29. Almost all other team statistical categories
were identical with Bentley adding 15 assists to LIU Post’s
14, and the Pioneers blocking four shots to the Falcons’
three. Each team had nine steals in the contest, but
turnovers plagued both sides. LIU Post ended with 22 while
Bentley finished with 20.
LIU Post finishes its season with a 19-9 record, and Marciniak
finishes her four-year career in a Pioneer uniform with 1,072
points, 16th all-time in Pioneer history, and 801 total rebounds
good for seventh in the Pioneer record book. In her two years
in a Pioneer uniform, Kopp tallied 494 points, 470 rebounds, and 99
blocks.
Provided by the LIU Post Sports Information Department.
